Weekly Devotional 4

Let’s start being honest with ourselves.The devil didn’t deceive us—we allowed ourselves to be deceived by the devil.

Christians often stop at who initiated deception instead of who consented to it.

The Bible didn’t say that through the devil sin came into the world.

The Bible said:> “Sin came into the world through one man.”— Romans 5:12

Meaning, the devil may have brought the idea, but we chose to turn it into reality.

God didn’t say that the devil wouldn’t try to deceive you:

> “Your adversary the devil…seeks whom he may devour” — 1 Peter 5 vs 8

> “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light .”— 2 Corinthians 11:14

What God said was:

> “See to it that no one deceives you.”— Matthew 24:4

It is our responsibility as Christians to make sure that we aren’t deceived by the devil.That’s why God told us to guard our hearts and minds at all times:

> “Guard your heart…for it determines the course of your life.”— Proverbs 4:23

Because how exactly can the devil just waltz in like he owns the place God is supposed to occupy and start acting out—if we didn’t give him access?

Let’s stop blaming the devil and start taking accountability for our actions.We need to stop acting like the devil is forcing us to do what we do not want to do.

If we keep saying it’s the devil, we are automatically saying we are helpless before him—as if we don’t have the power to win against him, which we do.

> “I have given you authority to overcome all power of the enemy.”— Luke 10:19

We know that the devil lost his power over us the moment Jesus died for our sins and sent the Holy Spirit to live in us:

> “He disarmed the powers and authorities.”— Colossians 2:15

The devil didn’t command you to hit your wife.You chose to allow the devil to persuade you into doing it.

The devil is not God.

If you say “no” repeatedly to him, you are not leading yourself to eternal damnation.

If you say no to Satan, he will flee:

> “Resit the devil, and he will flee from you.”— James 4:7

And I think the reason we are quick to blame the devil is because we think accountability equals criticism—which is wrong.

Being accountable is not recognizing that you are the problem.

It is being humble enough to accept that you are not perfect and that there are things you need to work on.

Accountability equals humility, which is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Today, let’s choose to guard our hearts, as the Holy Spirit tells us through Apostle Paul, so that the devil will not gain access to them:

> “Do not give the devil a foothold.”— Ephesians 4:27

This is done by listening to and obeying the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

And one of the ways we know what the Holy Spirit demands from us is by consistently reading the Scriptures and praying for the Holy Spirit to give us understanding and wisdom to make better decisions:

> “All scripture is God breathed.”— 2 Timothy 3:16.

Shalom🙏